Guest Post: Why Is Gasoline Consumption Tanking?

Zero Hedge ^ | 02/10/2012 | Tyler Durden

[Mechanicos]

Retail gasoline deliveries, already well below 1980 levels, have absolutely fallen off a cliff.

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Deliveries in November 2011 were 30.9 MGD, a staggering 47% decline.

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What other plausible explanation is there for the decline from 42.4 MGD in July 2011 to 30.9 MGD in November 2011 other than a dramatic decline in discretionary driving? That 27% drop in a few months in unprecedented, except in times of war or sharp economic contraction, i.e. recession.

[Jotmo]

I’m doing my best to keep gas consumption up. I have an 82 mile commute to work every day. That’s each way.

I can get 40 MPG out of my Mazda 2, but once it hits $5 a gallon, I’ll be looking for a room/apartment to spend the week nights at.

[dirtboy]

It’s a world-wide fungible market, and world demand for oil is soaring, due to China (now the leading manufacturer of autos), India, Brazil and other developing nations. Supply-and-Demand analysis needs to include within its scope the entire global market.

Please show where global demand is soaring over the last year. Please show where oil demand over the last few months in the countries you mentioned is soaring.

We were told in 2008 that Asian oil demand was soaring. It wasn't. Which is why the bubble popped.

[JCBreckenridge]

If you’re into oil stocks, now would be a great time to sell - Barry O isn’t going to be able to keep funding his deficits. When that happens, we should start to see deflation again as we saw in 2008.

The only reason why gas is going up and the dollar is worth less, is because of how much he is devaluing the dollar vs commodities.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

There are 50 million Americans on food stamps.

It’s not that complicated.

[UCANSEE2]

Why Is Gasoline Consumption Tanking?

Because many things can be done online now.
Because if it takes all your party money for gas, no sense going anywhere to party.
Because people will buy MORE of something at a LOW PRICE, and LESS of something at MORE of a PRICE.

Because we are getting screwed in the behind by Commies and Homos who don’t even know where the filler nozzle is on the gas tank of the government vehicles they are chauffeured around in, on their way to accept the Pulitzer Prize.

[fredhead]

We have three vehicles, a Ford Focus, a Nissan Titan, and a 69 VW beetle. Guess which one now spends the most time in the driveway?

You guessed it, the Titan. At 13 MPG I can no longer afford to drive it unless I need a truck. The VW, my project car and my baby, is now my daily driver.

I won’t even talk about how the boat will probably not leave the yard this summer.

[UCANSEE2]

And from there, it’s only a short hop and a jump to the modern Leftist’s argument that “Capitalism has ceased to function, and it’s time it be replaced with something else”.

The Leftists make this argument because they BELIEVE that the 'something else' is THEMSELVES.

They are only the ENABLERS of the 'invasion' (by socialists/marxists/communists). During the 'normalization' phase of the invasion, these enablers will be purged. The NEW ORDER cannot trust them. After all, they turned against their own once already. They have proved they cannot be loyal.

[Thane_Banquo]

And if supply is up, then price should be dropping.

A statement that "the supply curve shifted up and to the left," doesn't indicate an increase in supply, but a decrease. It means that, at every possible price point, producers will respond by producing less gas at that point than they did before the curve shifted.

[UCANSEE2]

Leftists are also blind to the fact that Capitalism is the RULE around the world. ALL COUNTRIES participate in the capitalistic market. ALL.

The difference between THEM and US is that all citizens here are allowed to participate/profit in the procedure. In communist/socialist/dictator governments, only the ‘elite’ are allowed to participate/profit.

[UCANSEE2]

I finally saw something that made sense as to why the price of oil is going up - namely, that Japan has just about all of their nukes shut down post-earthquake and has to buy oil to make up for much of the lost electrical generation capacity.

Add to that the fact that China is rapidly increasing it's import of basic fuels and oils, due to it's growing population and personally owned vehicles. Not to mention the fuel used to build all those dams.

[UCANSEE2]

A decrease in quantity consumed that occurs at the same time as an increase in prices (gas prices have risen), is easily attributable to a decrease in supply.

Is there a decrease in supply?

[dragnet2]

In the past 6 weeks, these are just some of the reasons/excuses gas prices are quite suddenly burning up your income.

________________________________________________________

Iran is going to take over the world.

The refineries need maintenance

The speculators are doing it

We're running out of oil

We have plenty

Americans are driving less, so we need to raise prices

The Chinese have millions of mopeds to fuel

There is a leak in a pipe in Moose Jaw Alaska

A rodent chewed through a line at the main pump station in Texas.

Demand is down but we are producing more however, our refineries have been and are being shut down

Prices will go to 6.75, but 3 days before the election, Obama will lower prices to 1.40 to ensure reelection

A school of endangered blowfish have been sucked into a pipe, and it takes time to get them out.

Iran has nukes

Unstable markets worldwide.

A big refinery fire

A small refinery fire

A refinery fire could possibly happen

New gas additives are being developed to make Americans even more stupid

They forgot to build a pipe

They don’t like pipes

Rich liberals want the price even higher.

Obama hates the oil industry

The oil industry hates Obama and are hoping this kills his reelection

Liberals want everyone ridding donkeys and bicycles to work as a sacrifice for the planet

We moved more armaments to the gulf because Iran is taking over the world

Wild money printing and massive deficits

Americans love high gas prices

Refinery margins are tight…They hardly make any money at all.

The masses have no idea how free market works.

It is being exported because we are making more than we use.

Demand has fallen

We need refinery upgrades and expansion

We are making more than we use so we have to sell it to the Chinese, (They have 1 billion mopeds to fuel , and need to go to work so they can send us more Communist products .

We have plenty of oil, so much so, we need to sell it abroad to keep prices low.

We have plenty of oil, so much so, we need to sell it abroad to keep prices high.

Barry intentionally pissed off the oil companies and seriously limited their profit

The population has increased

The less people drive the higher the price, so you need to drive more.

This is caused by warm weather.

It’s caused by cold weather.

We are importing less crude oil and even become an exporter of refined products.

High gas prices have creates jobs and wealth in the US, so we need to export more oil.

High gas prices are good for the economy. When it reaches $6 per gallon, America will be back on track.

We're using less fuel, so they have to increase the prices.

[UCANSEE2]

Supply-and-Demand analysis needs to include within its scope the entire global market.

Yeah, but that wouldn't help the Democrats and MSM (I know that's redundant) blame the Republicans for the high cost of gas.

[melancholy]

The general public will look at this vs. the skyrocketing cost of gas, and come to the conclusion that the Law of Supply and Demand is not working anymore.

I read a while back that we're exporting as much gasoline as we consume. If we keep it here, wouldn't this roughly cut the price by anywhere from 30% to 50%?

Here is a excerpt from the link below indicating what this terrible government intend to do:

Compared to a year ago, exports of gasoline have tripled – at a time when the price of gasoline is 42 cents a gallon more expensive at the pump.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0223/As-gas-prices-rise-should-US-oil-industry-stop-exporting

[UCANSEE2]

Excellent compilation.

Some of those excuses have been in use for a long time, and not just relating to oil/gas.

[matt04]

I would love to see registration and sales figures for these small cars. Have we seen a increase, yes. I doubt it is enough to cause this decrease. I believe the economy is the primary reason.

[Uncle Miltie]

Also, Demand is Global, so when Chinese and Indian people get their first motorcycle or car, they contribute to total global Demand, shifting that curf up and right.

That’s a price increase based on a Demand increase, even if the U.S. consumes less.

[colonialhk]

Creating inventory shortages for the Summer blend

[riri]

Um…nobody has jobs to drive to. No money to drive to shopping centers and restaurants. People are skipping kid’s activities because it’s too expensive to get them there. At this rate, it’s going to be hard to avoid a deflationary spiral despite the inflation the high fuel prices and money printing is working to cause.

[steve8714]

Young lib douchebags living in downtown lofts.